


The Colors of Parenting

by Zakaira



Series: Draco Malfoy, Painter [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, Mpreg, Slash, Trans child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8568229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zakaira/pseuds/Zakaira
Summary: Draco and Harry are married with two kids and one on the way. Draco has trouble relating to their oldest son, James, who loves sports and manly things. Harry has trouble relating to their middle child, Scorpius, who wants to be a girl. This is the story of their parenting struggles. This is the sequel to Draco Malfoy, Painter, but is also a stand-alone story.





	1. Chapter 1

Author’s note: This story is the sequel to Draco Malfoy, Painter, but it also stands alone on its own. All you need to know is that there is an establish relationship between Harry and Draco. Now to skip ahead, to when they are marriage with children.

 

* * *

 

 

            “Whainder?” Scorpius asked, poking Draco in the belly.

            Scorpius was two, almost three, and our second son. He was a feminine little thing who only ever wore dresses from the time he could point out which one he wanted and throw a fit if he didn’t get his way. He was tall, thin, and pointy in the face, like Draco, with my green eyes. He was smart; usually answering a question once was enough for him to understand. But this was the first time he was getting a new sibling and he didn’t seem to comprehend the situation fully. He asked this question, phrased a myriad of ways, of Draco’s giant belly every day.

            “Your sister is in there, Scorp,” Draco answered, one hand over his belly, the other reaching towards Scorp’s little toddler hand. “Here, do you want to feel again?”

            “Sissy?” Scorp asked, nodding emphatically, hand darting out to feel.

            “Yes, sister. She’s kicking over here right now,” Draco said, moving Scorp’s hand over.

            “Issa sissy, like me?” Scorp asked.

            I groaned and turned to my oldest, who had been playing with his cars, anger on my face. “James Sirius Malfoy!”

            “What?” James asked, jumping in place and looking up with a scared expression on his face. He knew he was in trouble. “What did I do now?”

            James was our oldest, having just turned six. He took after my side in terms of looks, with my black hair, short stalky stature, and facial structure. The only traits of Draco’s he’d gotten were the pale grey eyes, the soft easy to comb hair, and the full lips. He had even less in common with Draco in terms of interests, preferring sports, hunting, fishing, flying, bicycles, and cars. But he did have Draco’s bossy, overbearing temperament and an innate tendency to bully his little brother.

            “You’ve been calling your brother a sissy again, haven’t you?” I asked accusingly.

            “No! It wasn’t me!” James protested, despite the fact that he’d gotten in trouble for doing just that so many times before that I couldn’t count.

            “Scorp, did James call you a sissy again?” I asked more softly, turning to my young son.

            “No,” Scorp answered, looking scared too.

            “Who called you a sissy, Scorp,” Draco asked kindly.

            “Nodody. I jus’ sissy,” Scorp answered, stepping backwards, away from Draco, with his hands clutched in front of him, like he was worried he was the one in trouble now.

            “See!?! It wasn’t me!” James shouted. “He called himself a sissy!” Then he started roaring in laughter.

            “That’s not funny! Go play outside, James. I’ll deal with you later,” I said.

            “But I didn’t do it this time! I want to play with my cars,” James protested.

            “Go!” I ordered.

            James’ shoulders dropped, he let his toy car fall to the floor, and slunk away towards the back of the house. When he reached the rear doorway, he looked back over his shoulder and asked, “Can I ride my broom?”

            “Yes, but be careful!” Draco called. He liked to spoil the children. He had so little in common with James that he just let James do whatever the child wanted, unless James was being mean to Scorpius. He couldn’t abide the bullying any more than I could.

            I admit that I didn’t really get Scorp and the whole crossdressing thing, but neither Draco nor I got James. Everything was easy for James. He was the type of rambunctious son a macho man would be proud to have. Draco and I were proud of him; we just weren’t interested in the things he was interested in, with the exception of Quidditch and flying. Before he was born, people used to wonder what we would do if he was a little girl; how would two men raise a little girl by themselves? Now that we were having a little girl, we thought we could handle most of it. But having a boy like James turned out to be difficult for two gay men like me and Draco. To deal, we recruited George, Ron, and Bill to take James fishing, hunting, and camping. Draco still felt bad for not being able to connect more and he dealt with his guilt by being overly lenient when it came to things like flying.

            “Thanks, Father!” James exclaimed and then dashed out of sight, rear door banging shut loudly.

            “Scorp, come here, baby. You’re not in trouble,” Draco said softly, reaching out towards our son as far as he could go, without getting up. He was too pregnant to get up. Scorp gave a small nod and inched forward, so that he was standing close enough that Draco wrapped the child in a hug. Scorp hugged back, the sweet little thing that he was. “Listen to me, you are _not_ a sissy. This baby is not a sissy. What I was trying to tell you, is that this baby is a girl.”

            “A girrl?” Scorp asked, eyes wide.

            “Yes, a girl,” Draco repeated.

            “A girrl like me?” Scorp asked, shy smile crooking up the corners of his mouth.

            “No Scorp, you’re a boy, like James. This baby is a girl, like Rose,” Draco corrected. Rose was Ron and Hermione’s daughter, born the same year as Scorp.

            “No! I _not_ like Jame! I _not_ boy! I girrl, like Rose, see?” Scorp asked, plucking up the skirt on his dress to demonstrate.

            I groaned, glad Draco was here to deal with this. I may be gay as fuck, but I didn’t get the crossdressing. My first instinct was to refuse our son dresses and try to force him to be more like the little boy that he was. It was Draco who understood and said it was not just okay, but good, to be different. Not that Draco had any desire to wear girl’s clothes either, but he has this whole parenting mantra of listening to one’s children. Draco bought our son dresses and dolls, because that was what Scorp wanted.

            “Are you sure?” Draco asked. “I thought you were a boy.” He didn’t believe in telling the children they had to be one way. He suggested and prodded, but never told or forced. If the children were insistent, he took their side.

            “No, dat Jame. I girrl. Baby girrl too?” Scorp asked, hand reaching out to feel Draco’s belly again.

            “Yes, this baby is a girl, Scorp.”

            “Baby not mean like Jame?” Scorp asked.

            I hated that our oldest was mean to our younger son. It was the one and only thing I didn’t like about James. But despite years of punishment, nothing I did seemed to fix things. James didn’t like Scorp, because Scorp was so feminine. Scorp didn’t like James, because James was mean.

            “No, of course she won’t be mean like James. She will cry a lot, but she won’t be mean.  She’s going to be your sister. You two are going to love each other,” Draco answered.

            “Sissy?” Scorp asked.

            “No, sis _ter_ ,” Draco corrected.

            “Sis-ter,” Scorp repeated.

            “Yes,” Draco said. “You are going to be the big brother.”

            “No, dat Jame. I big sis _ter_ ,” Scorp corrected.

            “Why are you the sister, Scorp?” Draco asked.

            “‘cause I girrl,” Scorp answered simply, like it was obvious.

            “You know Scorp, little girls don’t ride brooms and play muggle football. Little girls take dance lessons. If you want to be a girl, we will have to switch you to the dance class with the other little girls,” Draco said and then summoned the schedule of muggle extracurricular activities for children, knowing full well that Scorp had been asking to fly for months.

            Back when James was little, he was so rambunctious that we wanted to get him into sports, to wear him out, so that we could have a break. The wizarding world had a few programs, but they were all for older kids and we didn’t want to wait. I suggested we try going muggle, because there were loads of tiny-tot muggle programs, plus it would provide exposure to muggles and muggle children. Draco had agreed, as long as I was the one who took James to football, not because it was muggle, but because it was boring.

            When Scorp was old enough, we signed him up for muggle activities too. First it was gymnastics, because that had the lowest age limit. Then he did swimming. And now that the season had changed, football had started. I’d taken him to his first practice last week and he’d cried the whole time. He didn’t understand the concept of running around on the field or kicking the ball. He just wanted to spin around in circles until he got dizzy.

            “Good idea, Draco. I like the way your sneaky brain works,” I said. I hated dancing. I would rather do just about anything other than dancing. Giving Scorp the choice of dancing or football was just the thing Scorp needed to appreciate football. It would solve this whole girl issue and maybe even end this dress business.

            Draco smiled at me and turned to the section on dance classes in the booklet. “Let’s see, there’s ballet, tap, funk, and something called ‘hip hop.’ What’s hip hop, Harry? Do the muggles dance around like hares?” he asked the last looking up at me.

            “No, it’s…I don’t know how to describe it,” I admitted.

            “And here I thought you knew all things muggle,” Draco replied.

            Meanwhile, Scorp inched away from Draco, hand outstretched towards one of his dolls.

            “Scorp, which one of these types of dancing do you want to do?” Draco asked.

            “Dass,” Scorp answered.

            “Yes, but which type. Girls can do ballet, tap, funk, or hip hop,” Draco prodded. “Or boys can play football.”

            “I dass. I girrl. I _hate_ Jame ball. Jame ball bad!” Scorp insisted.

            “He’s not still scared of the ball, from the time James’ ball came down on his head, is he?” I asked, concerned. That might explain why Scorp had been so difficult every time I tried to get him near the ball during practice.

            “Don’t know. But what I do know, Harry, is that this looks like one of those times where you, our great provider, can do some providing while I sit home on my arse, growing your baby. There’s a ballet class and a hip hop class starting any minute now down at the recreation center. Take Scorp and see if he likes either of them. Then once he picks, sign him up and get him the costume,” Draco said, passing me the brochure.

            “No…why would I sign him up? The whole point of this is to scare him into being a boy and playing football like James, so I don’t have to take them to two different activities,” I replied, although I did take the class schedule.

            “No, the whole point is to get me out of watching twice as many of those horrid football games. Dance class will be fun,” Draco corrected.

            “For who? Are you going to take him?” I asked, eying Draco’s girth.

            “Of course not; you are. But eventually, when Lily is old enough, I’ll take both of them and then you can just do James and the bad-ball,” Draco answered.

            “Bad ball!” Scorp repeated.

            I groaned. “Don’t encourage him!” I protested.

            “Fine, as long as you take him to pick out a dance class and send James back inside. I can’t get us both to St. Mungo’s if he falls off his broom,” Draco said.

            “You’re the one who said he could go fly,” I huffed, gathering my car keys. If we were going into Muggle territory, it would have to be the car. “Come on Scorp, we have to go do girl things.”

            “Yay!” Scorp exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. “Girrl dangs!”

            And so that is how I ended up on a mission to take my youngest son to find a dance class, after convincing my older son to put down the carpentry tools he wasn’t supposed to be playing with and the wood blocks he wasn’t supposed to be nailing together, and go inside, where Draco could supervise without getting up. I wasn’t surprised to find James building something when he had asked to go flying, because that type of thing was common for him: he loved getting into stuff and what he wanted to do most, was always something he didn’t have permission for. If Draco had told him he couldn’t go flying, then he would’ve gone anyway and this little carpentry project never would’ve started.

            “Daddy?” Scorp asked from his carseat in the backseat of my car.

            I’d have to install the infant seat for the new baby soon and then there would be wall to wall carseats back there, because James still had a booster.

            “Yes, Scorp?” I asked.

            “I do pricess dass?” Scorp asked.

            “Sure thing, kiddo. You just tell me which one is princess dance,” I answered, pulling into a parking spot.

            “Yay! Imma pricess! I luff you, Daddy!” Scorp exclaimed.

            “I hope you still love me after you see what dancing is,” I replied.

            We went inside, Scorp bouncing merrily in excitement. I found a teenager working reception, asked about the two classes, and learned that I could take Scorp in to watch. We were pointed in the direction of hip hop class first. Scorp’s face lit up in a smile as he saw the class and he began bopping around to the rhythm. He wasn’t like me; he had rhythm, like Draco. That made me smile, because at least he wouldn’t have to worry about having my two left feet, and because Scorp’s excitement was contagious.

            “There’s another dance class, Scorp. Should we check it out?” I asked.

            Scorp nodded. We found the ballet class. This time Scorp wanted to do more than watch and bounce around: he kept running out to the dance floor and trying to get in line with the other little girls. I tried to call him back, but the teacher said it was fine and that he could join their class. So I sat down with the moms and watched. I wished he would’ve picked the other class, because this music was boring and this dancing looked stupid in comparison. I mean, it’s bad enough my son wants to take dance, but it’s worse that he wants ballet. At least if he were in hip hop, then he would be learning cool dance moves, but this ballet dancing was just lame.

            “Scorp, don’t you want to go back to hip hop?” I asked when the class finished. “That looked fun.”

            “I dwirlll,” Scorp said, doing another twirl for me.

            “Yes, good job. But which class do you want? The fun one in that other room?” I asked.

            “No. Pricess dass here,” he insisted, pointing at the ballet teacher. “I pricess too!” He pointed at his own chest emphatically.

            I sighed in defeat. If my son wanted to take ballet and I put him in hip hop, Draco would just make me sign him up for ballet too and take him here twice a week. Draco always insisted that Scorp could be anyone he wanted to be and do anything he wanted to do. And although I would’ve preferred a son who was a little bit more like me, who was I to tell him he couldn’t follow his dreams?

            “Alright,” I said and pulled him towards the door. “Come on, we have to sign you up.”

            I signed Scorp up and then asked about the uniform. Then I drove us home, before flooing us straight into Madam Malkins to purchase the required leotard. We always flooed straight in and made the kids wait in the back until the store was empty, to avoid the press. Draco and I had agreed that our children were not going to be raised in the spotlight. We didn’t let the wizarding world into our lives and even more so the lives of our children. And well, it was easier not to have to explain why my son was wearing a dress.

            “I preddy,” Scorp said when he twirled around in his new leotard.

            “Yes, Scorp, you are,” I confirmed.

            “I preddy girrl,” Scorp said.

            “You are a pretty _boy_ ,” Madam Malkin corrected, calculating my bill.

            “Girrl!” Scorp shouted angrily, face turning red and fists balling up. Like his parents, he sometimes had a temper.

            “No Madam Malkin, Draco said we are going along with this,” I said.

            “I girrl, righ’ Daddy?” Scorp asked me.

            “Yes, Scorp. You can be anything you want to be,” I replied. The shopkeeper looked at me pointedly, giving me the impression that she disapproved. But Scorp had been dressing as a girl for over a year now and I gave her a look that said this was my kid and my decision and not hers.

            “See, I girrl,” Scorp concluded and resumed his earlier twirling around in place.

            Madam Malkin kept her mouth shut, except to tell me the total.

            “Just let Daddy pay, Scorp, and then we can go check on your father. I hope your baby sister isn’t giving him any trouble.”

            “Baby in Fadder tummy?” Scorp asked, still smiling.

            “Yes Scorp, the baby is in your father’s tummy,” I confirmed, hoping that maybe he was getting it this time. The baby would be here soon enough and I hoped he was prepared. James wasn’t prepared enough. James had taken one look at Scorpius and gotten jealous.

 

* * *

 

 

Author’s Note: I would like to thank Mila Pink for coming to my rescue with a name for this story. Thank you so much!

Please Review!


	2. Chapter2

            I arrived at the Manor a month later to find Lily screaming as Draco changed her nappy. Scorpius was standing on tiptoes on top of Draco’s toes, holding onto Draco’s trousers, and craning his neck to get a better look at his sister. James was kicking his football up in the air and trying to catch it when it came down. The only reason why James’ actions were not immediately causing harm to the rest of the family, was the overly large size of the drawing room. It was huge. James’ ball was nowhere near the changing table on the other side of the room.

            Lily was born right on time, two weeks previously. She had just a bit of blond peach fuzz on top of her head. Her eyes were a darker grey than Draco’s, similar to how Scorp’s had been when he was born. Her facial features were an even mix of mine and Draco’s, which George had described as, “Halfway to pointy.” And her temperament varied. With most things, she was a calm baby. But when she was hungry, she let the world know.

            “Oh Harry, you’re home,” Draco said over the noise from the children as he continued to wipe darling Lily’s butt.

            “Hey Lils. It’s okay. Father’s just cleaning the mess you made,” I said, running over to our baby on the changing table and inserting my finger into her mouth. She latched on, sucking.

            “Yes, I know: she’s hungry. But she was pooping and I’m not falling for any double-enders with this one. James did that to me more than enough,” Draco said, getting a fresh wipe.

            I hummed in agreement. The feeding could wait until after the nappy got changed.

            “I need you to go to the muggle store tonight. Scorp and James liked that muggle sauce and ate all of their vegetables with it. We need more for tonight,” Draco said, still wiping. Lily, at two weeks old, was a champion at soiling her bum.

            “Alright, I’ll go right now. I should take the boys, to get them out of your hair,” I suggested.

            Draco nodded. “Oh, and I withdrew Scorp from that preschool today. I’ll find a new one for him tomorrow,” he said.

            “But Draco! That’s the one the Weasleys use! We agreed that the kids could all go to school together and Rose is in that class!” I objected. I normally supported my husband’s decisions, but Rose was Ron and Hermione’s daughter and I’d planned on our kids being best friends since as far back as I started thinking about having kids. Rose was a few months older than Scorp and he looked up to her.

            At hearing my words, Scorp sniffled, lowered his head, and ran to hide under the tea table.

            “I don’t care. That Robby, do you know what he said to our sweet Scorp today?” Draco asked indignantly.

            Scorp had been having problems with a boy in his class named Robby.

            “No,” I answered, thinking it was probably bad, judging by Scorp’s reaction.

            “He said Scorp isn’t a girl, that girl’s don’t have penises, and the Scorpius is a boys’ name. Utterly ridiculous! That teacher didn’t even do anything about it! Can you believe that?” Draco asked, putting aside the soiled wipe now that Lily’s bum was clean. He pulled out a clean nappy and began to work it into position.

            “He’s only three, Draco,” I defended the child. I mean, what Robby said was true, but we were letting Scorp be a girl, so I didn’t want to mention that.

            “He’s almost four. He’s almost a year older than Scorp. I was waiting for Robby to be moved up to the next class, but no, when I asked today, that teacher said Robby is too dumb and is going to stay in Scorp’s class,” Draco ranted.

            “She didn’t call Robby dumb, did she?” I asked.

            “Not in so many words, but she implied it,” Draco answered. “But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that if we leave Scorp in that school, she’ll be in the same class as that jerky little monster all the way through Kindergarten. I don’t care where the Weasleys send their children, but I will not force mine to go there for one more day!”

            I sighed, thinking I would have to get Ron and Hermione to switch Rose and baby Hugo to another school with us. The school was more important to them, because they were using it as a sitter while they both worked. And they had two kids at the school, while our Lily was too young and our James too old, already in primary school.

            “Alright, but this will probably just happen again. As long as Scorp is going through his girl phase…”

            “Not his, her,” Draco corrected, finishing the last snap on Lily’s onesie and then picking her up carefully. “Here, sweet Lily, Father will feed you now.”

            Draco took Lily over to the rocker, where he began to nurse her. Only when Lily was latched onto his nipple, did he resumed our conversation. “And Scorp won’t have such a problem at the next school, because we are going to enroll her as a girl. We’ll tell all of the children from the beginning that she is a girl and we’ll tell the teachers that she is to use the toilet in private.”

            “Oh! Drwats!” James exclaimed, chasing after his football, which had gotten away from him.

            “Alright. We’ll figure out a new school for Scorp and we’ll tell them she’s a girl. Let me get the boys to the store before James breaks something with his ball,” I said.

            Draco nodded.

            I went after Scorp, picking him up from where he was still hiding under the table. “You’re not in trouble, Scorp. You did nothing wrong. That other boy is mean. Your father is right: we need to find you a better school,” I said, hugging my middle child to my chest, frilly skirt sticking out under my arms.

            Scorp nodded into my chest, wiping his eyes.

            “Now let’s go to the store and buy that ketchup you like. Come on, James,” I called, turning to my oldest.

            James tucked the black and white ball under his armpit and came running.

            “I like muggle sauce, Daddy. It’s really good on green beans,” James said, looking up to me, his black hair a mess around his face. Draco would’ve stopped to comb that hair before going out in public, but I didn’t care.

            “Me too,” Scorp echoed from my arms.

            The three of us walked out to my car and I strapped them into their carseats. Their carseats were strategically placed on either side of Lily’s, so that they couldn’t touch each other. Lily had only ridden in the car once when we brought her home from the hospital.

            The boys struck up a conversation about flying on the way to the store: the one thing they both liked. Well that and ketchup on their green beans.

            By the time we arrived, all traces of the fact Scorp had been crying had gone. He had a smile on his pointy little face and his broom figurine in his hand. James too had a tiny broom and Quidditch action figure in hand. I released them from the car, putting the toys back, and made them each take one of my hands as we crossed the parking lot to the muggle store.

            Before we even got inside, Scorp asked me for some muggle strawberries; his favorite. The muggles import year round from the other side of the globe, so that they always have everything in stock. The wizarding store only sells fresh fruit in season. This time of year, the muggles were the only ones with strawberries still on their shelves. James joined in the request and I knew Draco was fond of strawberries, so we went on a detour to the produce section.

            I was examining the packages of strawberries, looking for the one with the biggest, reddest, juiciest fruits, when one of my Auror colleagues from work came over.

            “Hello Harry! Fancy meeting you here!” Auror Stevens exclaimed.

            “Hello. What _are_ you doing here?” I asked in return.

            “Oh. Well you’re always saying how this is the best place to get out of season fruits and vegetables. My wife complained that they didn’t have any lettuce in the market this week, so I volunteered to take my Kyle here for an outing to see if we could find some,” Stevens answered, indicating a boy of about ten hiding behind him. He pulled his boy out in front of him. “Kyle, this is my friend, Auror Harry Potter. Harry, this is my son, Kyle.”

            “Nice to meet you.” I shook hands. “These are my children, James and Scorpius.”

            “Dad, isn’t Scorpius a boy’s name? Why is he wearing a dress?” Kyle asked, turning to look up at his father.

            “That’s a good question. Harry, I thought your first two were boys?” Stevens asked me.

            “Imma girrl!” Scorp exclaimed, turning red in the face. That started the meltdown, which turned into a full out tantrum, flinging himself on the floor to boot.

            “Excuse us. You upset my kid. Thanks a lot,” I said, taking the package of strawberries in my hand—they were good enough—and putting them in James’ hands. Then I picked Scorp up off the floor, cradling him comfortingly in my arms, and turned to go.

            “Sorry Harry, we didn’t know!” Stevens called back.

            That was true enough, because I didn’t share my personal life with every single person I worked with. This was a big part of why that was. How was I to explain that I’d had a son Scorpius and now had a daughter Scorpius?

            “It’s okay Scorp, calm down. They’re gone. We just have to get the ketchup and then we can go,” I said, patting Scorp on the back as I moved us towards the condiments.

            Scorp took a large, gulping breath and calmed down, before asking, “Scorp bad name?”

            “No, Scorpius is a great name,” I answered.

            “Scorp boy name,” Scorp said.

            “All of the Scorpiuses I know are beautiful little princesses,” I retorted. It was true enough, because I only knew the one Scorpius.

            “I wan’ girl name,” Scorp stated.

            James huffed in a very put upon manner, but at least he didn’t say anything. He’d been better about that in the last two weeks. I’d had a talk with him when Lily was born, explaining that he was a big boy and needed to help us out now that he had a little sister. I promised to take him to a Quidditch match if he went a whole month without being mean to Scorp, no matter what Scorp did or said. James really loved Quidditch; he’d been unusually good.

            “James, thank you for being so well behaved today. I really appreciate it,” I said. James nodded. “Do you want to pick the ketchup, James?”

            “I don’t see any of those little packets you brought us last night,” he replied.

            I’d brought home the packets unintentionally, because they were in my pockets from a quick lunch while I was on a stake-out. I’d forgotten I had them, but then Scorp had stuck his hands in my pockets and come out with the packets.

            “We aren’t buying little packets. We want a big bottle, like this one,” I pointed to the standard Heinz ketchup bottle.

            James nodded, then looked around.

            “Woah! Look how big this one is!” James exclaimed, pointing to a jumbo-sized bottle of ketchup.

            “Get it,” I instructed.

            James did.

            I steered us to the front and paid. Then I piled the groceries and the boys into the car and drove towards home.

            “I like Anna,” Scorp said in the car while we drove.

            “Anna is a nice little girl. Did you play with her at school today?” I asked, knowing there was a girl in his class named Anna. Or there had been a girl in his class, but now he wasn’t in that class.

            “No, not dat Anna. Me name Anna, not me name Scorp,” he said.

            I realized then that he was on the same track from earlier. Too many people had made comments about Scorpius being a boy’s name.

            “Your father named you Scorpius Hyperion Potter. I named James and Lily. Your father will be cross with me if you change your name to Anna, Scorp,” I replied.

            “Anna pricess name,” Scorp retorted.

            “Scorp is a princess name too,” I returned.

            “Daddy!” James called.

            “Yes James?” I asked.

            “Can’t we talk about Quidditch?” James asked, clearly tired of Scorpius’ problems.

            “I’m pulling in the gate now. We’ll be at the Manor in a few minutes. How about we all be silent until then?” I compromised.

            When I got them out of the car, James bounded off happily with the bag of groceries, while Scorp was obviously still brooding. I began to get really mad at that Robby kid for turning my sweet, happy little boy into such an unhappy child. By the time I walked inside the ornate double doors, I agreed whole-heartedly with Draco’s decision to switch Scorp into a new preschool.

            “Shush, Lily’s sleeping,” Draco whispered as we came in. He had our infant daughter in his arms as he rocked back and forth.

            “We need to talk about Scorp,” I whispered back, placing a kiss on Draco’s cheek.

            “Can it wait until after dinner?” he asked. “I’m starving.”

            The boys were hungry too, so we postponed our talk. Lily was put down in her basinet and the rest of us gathered in the dining room to enjoy a nice elf-made dinner.

            “Your mother’s not coming tonight?” I asked, spooning up my peas.

            “She said she needs a break. She wants twenty-four hours without hearing Lily cry,” Draco replied.

            Narcissa loved her grandchildren, I knew, but she couldn’t stand crying. It was a wonder Draco turned out as well as he did, what with in his first years being cared for mostly by Lucius and his paternal grandparents. He said grandmother Malfoy had raised him more than his mother had. I didn’t really mind, because Narcissa was alright with the older kids and I didn’t like her around all that much anyway.

            James covered his food in ketchup and shoveled it down far too quickly. Then before dessert was served, he asked, “Can I be excused?”  
            “But we haven’t had dessert yet. Nobby made us pudding and we have strawberries to go on top,” Draco replied.

            “Save my strawberries for tomorrow. Scorp has girrrrrl,” here James drew out the r, in an exaggeration of how Scorp said the word, “problems and I’d rather fly.”

            “Alright, but be careful,” Draco said.

            James got up and ran from the table towards the back door.

            Draco looked at me pointedly, silently asking what these girl problems were.

            “We ran into Stevens, from work, and his son in the market. I shouldn’t have told him about it,” I started.

            “What happened?” Draco asked sternly.

            “Stevens’ son was there and made a rude remark about Scorpius being a boy name. Scorp got upset. He said he wants his name to be Anna,” I answered.

            “Anna prwetty name,” Scorp put in, pushing his carrots around his plate with his fork. Apparently not even ketchup could convince him to eat carrots, although the peas were gone.

            “Scorpius is a beautiful name,” Draco countered. “Don’t listen to those plebeians, Scorp; your name is perfect.”

            “I wan’ girrl name,” Scorp insisted.

            “Scorpius is a girl’s name. You’re a girl and it’s your name,” Draco retorted.

            “But Anna pincess name,” Scorp said.

            “Scorpius is a constellation name, after the stars. Aren’t you a star, my sweet?” Draco prodded.

            Scorpius huffed, apparently out reasoned. Then the pudding appeared with the strawberries and he got distracted eating.

            Before dessert was finished, Lily woke up crying. Draco got her, balancing our daughter on his shoulder as he picked up his fork and said, “There, there, Lily, just give Father a minute to finish eating.”

            “Not fair,” Scorp muttered, scraping his empty pudding bowl with his spoon.

            “What’s not fair, Scorp?” I asked.

            “Lily flower name. Lily Pincess name. Scorp star name. I wan’ pincess name.” Scorp answered.

            “Well, we could change your middle name, Scorp. What would you like your name to be?” Draco asked. I knew he loved Scorp’s name and was loath to change it. I was impressed he would even consider it.

            “Budderfly. Dat pincess name,” Scorp answered.

            “Butterfly is a bug with wings. It’s not worthy of a princess,” Draco countered.

            “But Lily gets flowers!” Scorp exclaimed.

            “You want a flower name, Scorp?” Draco asked. Scorp nodded. “How about Narcissa, after Grandmother?”

            I groaned. He’d wanted to name Lily Narcissa too, but I’d vetoed it. Lily’s last name was Malfoy, which by the rules we established before James was born, meant that I got to pick the first and middle names. I picked Lily, after my mother. I might’ve considered Lily Narcissa, but that violated the other rule we’d set out for naming our children: one name had to be a constellation. So our daughter’s name was Lily Carina Malfoy, which I thought was really pretty.

            My major problems with the name Narcissa were one, it sounded stupid, two, it sounded like the word narcissist, and three, his mum wasn’t even that good of a mum. She was alright as a person and had saved me once during the war, I granted her that. She was even okay with older children. But she was awful with young children and babies and from the stories Draco told of his early years, she wasn’t involved much. The house elves raised him more than she did. So why would we name our child after the woman, especially because I knew she still believed in pureblood supremacy?

            “Me Nawcissa?” Scorp asked.

            “Scorpius Narcissa Potter,” Draco suggested, trying it out.

            “Yes,” Scorp replied.

            I groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have internet again! Now I don’t have to go to Target to post and respond to your reviews!
> 
> There’s only one more planned chapter of this story left. If anyone would like to read more of this family and has an idea for how the plot should unfold, let me know: I’m open to suggestions.


	3. Chapter3

Three months later.

 

            I took the day off to go with Scorp to her first day at her new school. It had been four months since she told us she was a girl and she had stuck to it all this time. That was a long time for a toddler, so I figured Draco was right in that we should accept it. That was why I now referred to my son by female pronouns. That and we had told the new school that she was a girl.

            Draco, Hermione, and I had done a lot of work researching preschools to find one that was both magical and open to non-binary children. It had taken three months to decide on this school and then another two weeks for the school to prepare for the new students, because the new bathroom needed to be built. This was supposed to solve our problems with the other kids suggesting that Scorp wasn’t really a girl. Aside from Rose, all these children thought she was a girl.

            The class started off sitting in a circle and the teacher introduced Scorp as the new _girl_ student. None of the kids said anything about that. Scorp was dressed as a girl in a cute little blue and green sundress with flowers on it. We’d even let her blond hair start to grow out and put a flower clip in it to match. She looked no different from the other half a dozen girls in the class. She fit right in.

            Then there was singing and story time. Having Draco’s musical ability, Scorp was the only toddler there who was able to carry a tune. After was art time, Scorp assigned the spot next to Rose. Rose’s artwork was one of those clumsy things three-year-olds make. Scorp had turned three recently, but her work looked like it had artistic merit, like she could sell it.

            Draco put a paintbrush in both of our boys’ hands before they could walk. James had liked it enough, but he didn’t have the raw talent. He was still receiving infrequent lessons on the subject, but he wasn’t particularly interested in paints. It was the guitar James wanted to learn, so Draco had switched his lessons to music lessons. So now James had one sport, depending on the season, and one music class.

            Scorp was better at painting than most children. With a few lessons, she picked up some actual technique. She liked painting.

            When the bell rang, signaling outdoor playtime, Scorp stayed working, while the other children all ran off. She spent another minute finishing the bit she’d been working on. Then she went to the teacher and said, “’Cuse me Madam Teader.”

            “Yes Scorpi?” the teacher asked.

            “I need magic,” Scorp answered, pointing to the painting.

            “I think she means to ask you to cast a stasis charm in it. Draco always casts them for her at home.

            “Oh, do oils need stasis charms on them? Maybe she should switch mediums. The rest of the kids are happy using the school paint,” the teacher said.

            “No, Scorpi’s father is a world-renowned painter. We supplied the materials and we’re paying extra so that she could paint the way my husband thinks is proper,” I countered. If I backed down on this, it would just mean Draco would drag our infant out of the house with him to have a talk with this teacher.

            The teacher nodded and cast the stasis charm on the canvas. She then picked it up and set it out of the way.

            Once that was taken care of, Scorp ran outside to play. The playground was crowded with children and I lost track of her when the teacher called me back to talk.

            “Auror Potter, Scorpi did really well today. I was a little worried about the special potty rules,” the teacher started, referring to the new bathroom with the door that Scorp used. Draco and I had paid to have it added to her classroom, because the regular toddler loo just had a row of little toilets that everyone and anyone could see and Scorp needed privacy. “I thought it might be difficult logistics-wise separating her out, but you being here helped with that. I only hope she can manage as well without you here.”

            “I hope she won’t have any problems being a girl here,” I replied.

            “Well it is unusual, but the headmistress had us all attend a seminar about mis-gendered children. I never knew…It must be so hard on children like Scorpi. I don’t want to make anything harder. I want this to be a safe, happy environment for all of the children,” Scorp’s teacher replied.

            I nodded.

            “She’ll have it hard enough with the magical transitioning,” the teacher continued.

            “Magical transitioning?” I asked, dread building in my gut before I even knew what it was.

            “Yes, so she can become a real girl,” the teacher explained.

            In horror at the thought, I stammered and excused myself to find my child. I’d have to ask Draco about this magical transitioning.

            Scorp was out on the playground, standing in the middle of a bridge, facing down a chubby dark-haired girl in a way that reminded me of Draco when we were back at school. The girl had a homely face and was big boned, so although Scorp was half a foot taller, the girl was half a foot wider.

            Scorp screamed something I couldn’t understand at the girl; it was too fast and too jumbled together for me to make out the words.

            The girl must’ve understood though, because she turned red in the face and screamed back, “You pee-pee! Scorpi is pee-pee!”

            “That’s enough you two! Kim, you are getting a time out! Scorpi, we are going to have a talk about playing nice,” the teacher said, stepping in before I could figure out what to do.

            “But Scorpi call me fat an’ uggy!” the girl, Kim, protested, pointing an accusing finger at Scorp.

            “Did she, Auror Potter?” the teacher asked me pointedly.

            “She said something, but I couldn’t follow. Did you say that, Scorp?” I asked my child.

            Scorp nodded with a smirk. Despite the sundress, she reminded me so much of Draco in that moment. “Kim fat an’ uggy.” And because this was Draco’s child, Scorp mimed fat by spreading her arms wide. She was honest, but she was not helping her case.

            “That’s not nice. You need to apologize,” I said firmly.

            “Kim call me pee-pee!” Scorp protested.

            “And that was wrong too,” I said.

            “Come on, timeouts for the both of you,” the teacher said, motioning the children towards the classroom.

            Scorp and Kim were taken inside and sat down on chairs while the teacher went over the rules for playing nicely. No one was to be called fat, ugly, or pee-pee. Everyone was pretty and perfect and had to be nice to everyone else here at this school. Once time out was over, they had to apologize to each other, before they could go back to playing. I liked the way the teacher handled the situation and that she’d caught it before I had a chance to bring it to her attention. Scorp might just be alright at this school.

            Scorp went back to playing outside and this time stayed away from Kim for the rest of playtime. Then it was time to go home.

            “I no like Scorpi,” Scorp said as we cued for the line to use the floo.

            The problem with changing Scorp’s middle name to Narcissa, was that it didn’t solve the issue of Scorp not being very feminine sounding. She wanted to be called something girly on a regular basis. Draco came up with the solution of calling her Scorpi, thinking that Scorpi sounded more like a girl name that Scorp. Unfortunately, Scorp wasn’t convinced.

            “Why’s that, Scorp?” I asked.

            “Kim said Scorpi pee pee name,” Scorp answered.

            For a second, I wanted to take Scorp’s side and call Kim names, but I couldn’t, because I’d seen what had happened. “You called Kim names too. That wasn’t nice,” I replied.

            Then it was our turn. I picked her up and stepped into the fireplace. When we arrived at the Manor, we found Draco putting Lily down for her nap. She was almost four months old now and on a very regimented schedule. She had to eat and sleep at exactly the right times, or Draco wouldn’t get his night’s rest. Draco needed to be rested, or he turned into someone I wasn’t nearly so happy being married to. Rested Draco was the perfect husband; up all night Draco, not so much.

            “How did it go?” Draco asked, closing the nursery door behind him, so as not to wake Lily.

            “Scorpi pee pee name,” Scorp answered.

            “No, Scorpi is _not_ a pee pee name,” Draco replied. “Who told you that?”

            Scorp shrugged.

            “Kim from his new class,” I answered.

            “Kim Bullstrode? Milli’s daughter?” Draco asked.

            I shrugged, because he would know better than I. He and Hermione were the ones who researched the kids in this class.

            “I’ll talk to Milli. Scorpi, your name is a princess name. It’s short for Scorpianna,” Draco said.

            We’d discussed what to do if there was another problem with Scorp’s name. Draco had insisted that the base name not change and that we would just try various ways to feminize it. Scorp had said she liked the name Anna, so we were trying that one first.

            “Scorrianna?” Scorp asked, a smile coming to her face.

            “Yes, Scorpianna,” Draco confirmed, as if it had been that all along.

            “Me Scorrianna,” Scorp tried it out, pointing to her chest.

            “That’s right. Now how about we sort through your backpack and then you can go play?” Draco asked.

            Scorp nodded happily. As soon as Draco had the backpack off Scorp, she went running down the hall, screaming to all the portraits, “I Scorrianna!”

            “I think she likes it,” I said, hoping this would end our name worries.

            “She better or else,” Draco replied pointedly.

            I knew what the, “or else,” was. Draco had only named one of our children, in exchange for two of them taking the Malfoy last name. If Scorp’s first name was changed, then her last name was getting changed too and then none of them would be Potters.

            “I did offer to switch heirs with you, but nooo, you wanted the second one,” Draco added.

            He’d first offered to switch heirs when James was six months old and accidentally punched Draco in the nose. By then it was clear that James was a very rough-and-tumble type of boy and Draco had begun to regret his initial insistence that he get the first heir. I’d refused to switch heirs, not because I didn’t want James for my heir, but because I didn’t want to take away the one thing Draco and James had in common at the time: they were both Malfoys. Draco already had a tendency to blame James on me, saying that James took after me when really James was more like my father; I was not going to give Draco the Potter last name as another excuse for why he had so much trouble relating to our first born.

            “Speaking of heirs, don’t you think that if Scorp is a girl, we will have to have another child?” I asked, backing away in case a punch was coming my way for it. Hermione had decked Ron when he had suggested they have a third child if Hugo turned out to be another girl. Luckily, Hugo was a boy, so everything had worked out.

            “No, I bloody well do not! If you don’t want Scorpianna Potter for your heir, then you can have Lily Malfoy. Those are your options, Potter. Pick one,” Draco spat out.

            I shrugged, not wanting to push my luck. Lily didn’t have my last name and she never would, unless we changed her first name to something of Draco’s choosing. My heir was Scorp, whether she was a girl or not.

            “Oh hello, Harry. Scorpi just told me her name is Scorrianna now,” Narcissa said as she came in holding Scorp by the hand.

            “Yes, mother. That’s our little Scorpianna,” Draco confirmed.

            “Scorrianna!” Scorp shouted, still happy with it.

            “Well it looks like we’ve found a winner,” Narcissa commented.

            Draco and I agreed. What mattered most was that Scorp was comfortable in her own skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: There will be one more chapter, but it will probably be a short one.  
> Also, no one reviewed the last chapter :(


	4. Chapter 4

            Later that night, when the children were all asleep, Lily being the last to settle into her cradle, Draco and I crawled into bed together. Immediately we entwined our arms around each other, eager to reconnect romantically. With three children, something as simple as hugging and holding each other through the night was vital to our feeling of closeness and togetherness.

            He kissed me on the forehead and then shifted his long frame down so that we were face to face. I craned my neck up and made eye contact with him, looking into those sparkling grey eyes of his. In them, I saw the love he felt for me, but I also saw concern.

            “Hmmm?” I asked.

            He didn’t need words to know what I was asking.

            “Is something wrong?” he asked. “I saw your look of concern during dinner. Is it more than the trouble with Kim at school?”

            I sighed. He knew me too well and had caught my moment of brooding. “The teacher mentioned…”

            When I trailed off, he prodded, “What?”

            “Magical transitioning,” I blurted out, breaking eye contact as the thought overwhelmed me.

            “What about it?” Draco asked.

            “That Scorp might do it! What if she wants that? I don’t even know how it’s done! Is it even safe? Why would she even want that?” My tone was frantic now.

            “Calm down. You are getting way ahead of yourself. That teacher too. Scorp is only three. It’s far too soon to be talking transitioning. It’s unethical to do any sort of genital modification before puberty, unless it is medically necessary. Even at puberty, it’s only the extreme cases where a child is uncomfortable having the wrong parts, that they even consider it that early. This is a decision for Scorp to make, when she’s old enough to make it. I’d prefer waiting until she comes of age, but even if she wants it when she hits puberty, we’re still a decade out from that. Unless she asks for it or mentions discomfort with the way her body is, which she hasn’t by the way, then we don’t need to do anything.”

            “We don’t have do anything? It’s as simple as that?” I asked hopefully.

            “Not unless she says something. We need to take our ques from her. It’s her body. It’s her decision and she’s not old enough yet to make it. You are worrying about something that might happen years from now. It’s just as likely that it won’t happen at all.”

            “But is it really possible to just switch genders with magic?”

            “Yes. I haven’t looked into it much, but I know it can be done,” he answered.

            “It really works? Boys become girls? Completely? Girl organs too?”

            “Yes, why wouldn’t it be complete?” he asked.

            “In the muggle world, they have surgeries and stuff that alter the appearance of the body, but not the fundamental organs within. Boys never get periods or have babies, even if they look like girls,” I explained.

            “I never thought about periods. Merlin; I’m not looking forward to that with Lily. It never occurred to me that we might be dealing with that with Scorp too,” he replied.

            “You never worried about it, because you just assumed she could take a potion and become male fertile, like you,” I said. It doesn’t make much of a difference if Scorp carries our grandchild as a witch would, or if she retained her male organs and had to take a potion to accomplish it.

            “Yes, exactly,” he replied nodding. “I don’t know if the organs are changed too; I just assumed they were. That’s not the sort of thing one talks about in polite conversation. With a newborn to care for all day, I haven’t had time to research it. I didn’t even realize we needed to until you brought it up just now.”

            “But is it _safe_?” I asked, more worried about this aspect of it than if the organs were changed. Scorp magically changing her bits was scary enough for me, without the added worry of her safety. After all, she was still my little baby. I’d cradled her in my arms on the day she was born and promised to protect her. I meant to stick by that promise, no matter what. She was precious to me; James and Lily were too.

            “I think so…” Draco trailed off. Then he groaned and switched to a self-deprecating tone that he mostly saved for at home. “I’ve been so busy with Lily that I haven’t been keeping up with what’s going on with Scorp. I thought the new school and the new name would solve all her problems…And Mother thinks I’m not paying enough attention to James…”

            I felt strangely relieved that for once he didn’t know the answers and I wasn’t the one way behind. I rubbed my hands down his back comfortingly and said, “It’s okay. We can look into it together.”

            “Yes, we’ll research it together, so we know what we can expect, but then it will be her choice. It’s her body; it has to be her choice,” he insisted.

            This was one of the things I loved about him. His father had been so demanding, forcing him to be a certain way, even when it was against his nature. But from the beginning, Draco had said he didn’t want to be that type of parent. His children would be free to be whoever they wanted to be and his job as a parent was only to ensure that freedom. That left me to be the strict parent, because I was all for letting our children be themselves, but I also thought they needed guidance.

            “Of course. But what has your mother been saying about James now?” I asked, just a tad exasperated. I swear, the witch had her good qualities, but not when it came to children. It was no wonder she’d allowed Lucius to mess up Draco’s childhood.

            “Oh, just that I don’t pay enough attention to him. She says he behaves much better when she’s alone with him.”

            “When was she alone with him?” I asked skeptically.

            “She took him to the park while you were at work last week and she picked him up from school today,” he answered.

            I waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “He’s been behaving better since Lily was born; took her long enough to notice.”

            “No, Harry, I think she may be on to something. She showed me a memory of him and he was _cuddling_ with her at the park. _Our_ James, _cuddling_.”

            “That is strange…Are you sure it was unaltered?” I asked. As far as I knew, the both of them weren’t cuddlers. That was the last thing I’d picture the two doing at the park.

            “Yes, I’m sure. She said all our son wanted was some attention. You take him to football and have your one-on-one time with him. Maybe I need to find something to do with him too,” he said.

            I smiled, because I was all for pushing Draco and James to get closer. “That’s a great idea! What do you have in mind?”

            Draco sighed. “I would take him to the park after school during Lily’s nap, if I wasn’t always so tired.”

            “No, that’s not going to work. You need to nap while Lily sleeps,” I said sternly. I was not going to deal with the sleep-deprived banshee that he became when he didn’t get his nap.

            We’d had this argument before, when James was a newborn and Draco had wanted to use naptime to paint the beatific image of our sleeping baby. I’d won, which meant we had less oils of our children on our walls than he liked, and that we’d stayed married. It also meant he almost never had time to paint and hadn’t sold a painting in ages. Every painting he did these days was of our family and that was off limits to the public. I was widely criticized for marrying Draco, because it meant my best painter refused to share his paintings of me. But that was fine by me, because I still hated to be painted.

            “If we do something while Lily is awake, then she’ll need a sitter,” he replied.

            “Molly or Andromeda. Take your pick,” I said.

            They were both good choices. If it was just James who needed watching, I favored Andromeda, because my godson Teddy lived with her and the boys played well together. But three children were too much for Andromeda, so when we needed Scorp and James watched, I went with Molly. Although now that we had Lily, I’d started dropping James with Andromeda and Lily and Scorp with Molly on date night. We had yet to leave Lily by herself with a sitter and although my gut said to go with Molly, Andromeda and Teddy had recently complained that they wanted to see more of Scorp and Lily.

            “Aunt Andromeda. She’s been complaining to Mother that she never gets to see Lily,” he said.

            I groaned, wondering why I’d ever thought getting his mother to talk to her sister again was a good idea. Now that the two Black sisters had ganged up, Narcissa had started copying Andromeda’s nagging. It was especially noticeable when it came to the children, because Narcissa by herself hadn’t had anything to say parenting-wise. Come to think of it, she probably got this needing to spend more time with James thing from her sister; it sounded like something Andromeda had said to me before. Andromeda always reported that James was well behaved and affectionate at her house and I always brushed it off, because he wasn’t like that at home; not since he was very little.

            “I don’t know when I could leave Lily though…our schedule is very tight,” Draco continued. He went on, thinking out loud, ruling out before school, because Andromeda would be busy getting Teddy ready, and after school, because that was naptime. Saturdays I took James to football and Draco didn’t want to do the same day as me. Sundays were date night, so the mornings were usually full with chores to get ready for the week.

            “How about after dinner on weeknights? You feed Lily, then you can drop her off with Andromeda and she can do bath time. I’ll watch Scorp,” I suggested.

            There was more discussion, because Draco didn’t want to make it an everyday thing and miss giving our daughter a bath and also because our routine was to make James do his homework after dinner and Draco didn’t want their time together to be about homework. He eventually settled on Friday nights, because James wouldn’t have homework and he could live with being away from Lily one night a week. With that settled, all that was needed was an activity for the two to do together.

            “I’ll ask him tomorrow what he wants to do. What do you think my chances are of getting him to go with me to the art museum?” he asked.

            I snorted, knowing James hated that type of formal place. “I think you might have more luck with the zoo. He’s been wanting to see that new tiger exhibit.”

            “The muggle zoo?” Draco asked with distaste. I nodded. “Fine, but I’m casting deodorizing charms and I better not hear any complaints about doing magic in a muggle zone.”

            “I’ll talk to John at the Ministry about looking the other way. He’s normally on the evening shift,” I conceded. Technically, it was slightly illegal, but only if the muggles noticed, which they usually didn’t, because Draco was good at keeping it covert. I didn’t like to use my influence as the Savior of the Wizarding World to get special perks, but if it meant Draco and James spending time together, then it was worth it.

            “You are such a dear,” he said smiling widely at me.

            Then he kissed me. He was firm and demanding in bed and he could convey his hunger for me with just a press of the lips. I kissed him back, turning his passionate press into a more languid, yet still sensual snog. The kids were still on my mind and he was clearly tired, so we contented ourselves with the snog and the embrace, before falling asleep in each other’s arms. Sex would have to wait for one of our regular date nights, when we had time to ourselves.

            I’d been skeptical we could make this relationship work at first, but then it had. We’d just fallen into it so naturally once we’d given dating a try. It felt like we were two halves of a whole, the way fitting our lives together had been so fast and easy, despite that he’d gotten pregnant right away. Not that the pregnancy had come as a surprise, because we’d known he was fertile and we had also been going at it like rabbits. It would’ve been more of a surprise if he hadn’t turned up pregnant.

            When Draco was six months pregnant with James, I was so sure that we would be together for the rest of our lives, that I’d looked in his eyes and vowed to love him forever. He’d vowed the same and even though we’d said we weren’t going to rush into marriage just because he was pregnant, we ended up walking down the aisle together just one month later. Practically overnight, Narcissa had put together the largest wedding I’d ever seen, with nothing but a knowing smirk as explanation; I got the distinct impression she’d been planning the wedding since before we even started dating.

            Our marriage was easy. We only struggled when it came to parenting. Raising three kids was hard. Raising three Potter/Malfoy kids was that much harder. But we were in it together, whether it was James needing more attention, Lily and the difficulties of caring for an infant, or Scorp and her desire to be a girl. We would get through it all together and with any luck, we wouldn’t mess our children up as much as we had been messed up. That was all we really wanted: well-adjusted children and a happy marriage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: The end. I have a couple stories that I’ve been working on, but I haven’t worked out the ending for any of them and I don’t know which one I’ll figure out first. I don’t even have names for any of them. Here’s a list:  
> 1\. It’s sort of AU of the newest Harry Potter book, where Draco and Narcissa end up raising Delphini. Harry and Teddy run into Draco and Delphini soon after the war, leading Harry and Draco to start hanging out. I don’t know where this one is going, but I’m thinking something along the lines of Harry fighting the prejudice against Draco and Delphini and ending up falling in love with Draco.  
> 2\. AU starting from 4th year, where Draco is a hermaphrodite and gets his period. Harry finds out and helps hide it. Then Harry asked Draco to the Yule Ball and they start dating. Draco gets pregnant right after Voldemort comes back, so Lucius takes his family into hiding, keeping Draco and the baby away from Harry. Draco thinks Harry has abandoned them. After the war, when the Malfoys come out of hiding, Harry sets out to get Draco and their child back.   
> 3\. AU from sixth year. Instead of becoming a Death Eater, Draco is suffering from some medical issues (eventually I think I will reveal that it’s all self-inflicted, but I haven’t gotten that far yet) and predicts his death at Harry’s hands. Harry becomes convinced that Draco’s psychic abilities are real and goes along with a ritual Draco thinks will stop Harry from killing Draco. Once the ritual is completed, Draco goes into hiding and Snape is left to inform Harry that it was a marriage ritual he performed with Draco. I figure Draco will be the one waiting for Harry after the war ends, but I don’t quite know where I’m going with this one either.
> 
> If you are interested in one of them, please let me know which one, what you would call it, and where you would take it.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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